[TADS] Verbose always on
dwh...@gmail.com
permanently in a Tads game? It's a pain continually having to type
"verbose" every time I play a game, or play it with the wonderfully
lengthy descriptions cut down to a single word.
Eizua
If you're talking about setting *any* game on "verbose" mode
permanently from the interpreter itself, it's not possible (or at least
that feature hasn't been added yet).
Eizua
henrik
always turn the verbose mode on when I play a game.
dwh...@gmail.com
henrik wrote:
> I'd say that would be a great feature in an interpreter, since I too
> always turn the verbose mode on when I play a game.
It's one of the major annoyances of playing any Tads game, having to
turn verbose on every time or be left with one word room descriptions.
Does anyone actually think verbose off is a good idea?
Stephen Granade
> henrik wrote:
> > I'd say that would be a great feature in an interpreter, since I too
> > always turn the verbose mode on when I play a game.
>
> It's one of the major annoyances of playing any Tads game, having to
> turn verbose on every time or be left with one word room descriptions.
As in Inform games, that's settable by the author. I know of plenty of
TADS games that begin in verbose mode.
Stephen
--
Stephen Granade
stephen...@granades.com
Nathan
dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
> It's one of the major annoyances of playing any Tads game, having to
> turn verbose on every time or be left with one word room descriptions.
> Does anyone actually think verbose off is a good idea?
I've been playing text adventures since 1983, and I've never used
VERBOSE. There were extremely good technical reasons for brief
descriptions, back in the good old days. Those reasons are obsolete,
and now it's just a matter of preference. My preference seems to be
a small minority. The default is left up to the author, and the
player must change it if he disagrees. But I don't think I've ever
actually done that.
This raises the question: Which games have verbose set by default?
Kevin Venzke
"Nathan" <nts...@netscape.net> wrote in message
> I've been playing text adventures since 1983, and I've never used
> VERBOSE. There were extremely good technical reasons for brief
> descriptions, back in the good old days. Those reasons are obsolete,
> and now it's just a matter of preference. My preference seems to be
> a small minority. The default is left up to the author, and the
> player must change it if he disagrees. But I don't think I've ever
> actually done that.
>
> This raises the question: Which games have verbose set by default?
Mine (Kurusu City) does. But I tried to be considerate to players in
TERSE mode, by artificially setting a room to "not yet seen by the
player" when something changed in the description.
I think playing in TERSE would make sense if I could be assured
that nothing I might only read once would be crucial to the game.
Or, if there were also a brief and aesthetically pleasing way to list at
least the room exits after the room short name.
Kevin Venzke
J. Robinson Wheeler
> dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
> > It's one of the major annoyances of playing any Tads game, having to
> > turn verbose on every time or be left with one word room descriptions.
> > Does anyone actually think verbose off is a good idea?
>
All of mine, which includes two TADS games and a number of Inform ones.
--
J. Robinson Wheeler Games: http://raddial.com/if/
JRW Digital Media Movie: http://thekroneexperiment.com/
Graham Holden
>
>
>dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
>> It's one of the major annoyances of playing any Tads game, having to
>> turn verbose on every time or be left with one word room descriptions.
>> Does anyone actually think verbose off is a good idea?
>
>I've been playing text adventures since 1983, and I've never used
>VERBOSE. There were extremely good technical reasons for brief
>descriptions, back in the good old days. Those reasons are obsolete,
>and now it's just a matter of preference. My preference seems to be
>a small minority.
An enlarged-by-one-minority. I almost always play in BRIEF mode, typing
"L" when necessary if I want the full description.
> The default is left up to the author, and the
>player must change it if he disagrees. But I don't think I've ever
>actually done that.
>
>This raises the question: Which games have verbose set by default?
Metamorphoses does; possibly the one whose name escapes me about odd-named
sausages, tea, cheese, wine and multi-coloured doors.
Quintin Stone
> This raises the question: Which games have verbose set by default?
Scavenger has Verbose on by default, which is my preference. In fact,
there was a huge display bug that went unreported in the comp version when
played in Brief mode. It was never mentioned in any beta report or review
that I know of either, so I can only assume that if someone did ever
switch the game to Brief mode, they didn't feel inclined to report the
bug.
==--- --=--=-- ---==
Quintin Stone "You speak of necessary evil? One of those necessities
st...@rps.net is that if innocents must suffer, the guilty must suffer
www.rps.net more." - Mackenzie Calhoun, "Once Burned" by Peter David
Stephen Granade
> This raises the question: Which games have verbose set by default?
All of mine.
Sands...@yahoo.com
dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
<< Does anyone actually think verbose off is a good idea? >>
I usually end up turning on brief mode after I get tired of seeing the
same text fill up a third of my screen whenever I re-enter I location.
I'd rather see new text than re-read the same descriptions, but, on
those occasions when I do want to re-read something, "L" isn't a big
bother to type.
John Coxon
unreason and Sands...@yahoo.com spewed up:
Seconded.
--
John Coxon
"IRTA 'Virgins suck even more'." - MEow (afdaniain)
Email: john[dot]coxon[at]gmail[dot]com
Website: http://alphacentauri.8k.com
Missing footnotes: http://www.nut.house.cx/cgi-bin/nemowiki.pl?ISFN
ZZ9 - the official HHGG appreciation society: http://www.zz9.org/
Raymond Martineau
>
>
>dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
><< Does anyone actually think verbose off is a good idea? >>
>
>I usually end up turning on brief mode after I get tired of seeing the
>same text fill up a third of my screen whenever I re-enter I location.
Having a 1600*1200 monitor, I don't have this problem.
I consider the issue to be the disparity between VERBOSE and BRIEF. It's
basically an on/off switch that prints a room description. While this is
helpful if you have a small screen or slow TTY connection, it does give a
feeling of disorientedness. This could also be a problem with timed
puzzles, where the default config has looking take a turn.
A better alternative would be to provide an small descripton devoid of
content, but contains enough text to keep the player's bearing.
Sophie Fruehling
>I consider the issue to be the disparity between VERBOSE and BRIEF. It's
>basically an on/off switch that prints a room description. While this is
>helpful if you have a small screen or slow TTY connection, it does give a
>feeling of disorientedness.
I agree with that. I always play in verbose mode, not because I want
to reread the room description every time I reenter a room, but
because the length of the text gives me a feeling of orientation.
Also, come to think of it, having a quick glance at the text to see
some room features, like furniture, probably helps, too.
--
Sophie Frühling
"El arte no viste pantalones."
-- Rubén Darío
dwh...@gmail.com
Do you have a photographic memory and can remember every single detail
that was mentioned in the room description without ever needing to
refer to it again? Lucky you. I tend to find that once I've passed
through half a dozen different locations, remembering the exact
contents of them when faced with "room", "another room", "slightly
different room" is a bit difficult.
dwh...@gmail.com
somewhere along the way - wasn't whether verbose or brief or terse (or
whatever) is the best way to play a game, but just a simple question on
whether it's possible to turn verbose permanently on when playing a
game? I'm guessing from the lack of positive replies that it isn't.
Pity.
Sands...@yahoo.com
dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
<< Anyway, the whole point of this topic [...] is whether it's
possible to turn verbose permanently on when playing a game?
I'm guessing from the lack of positive replies that it isn't.
Pity. >>
Several people have said that they set verbose mode to be the
default one when they design games. In other words, their games
are "verbose" until the player changes modes.
If you're asking if it's possible to prevent the player from
changing modes, then, I would guess that a game designer could
arrange for that too, depending on the game system, but I don't
think it would be very considerate.
<< Do you have a photographic memory and can remember every
single detail that was mentioned in the room description without
ever needing to refer to it again? Lucky you. >>
No, my memory isn't photographic, but it does appear to work
pretty well. (There are certainly plenty of things I'd like to
forget that I can't.) I do re-examine locations from time to
time, but I just don't want to see the same text show up every
time I move back into a location. Other people feel differently.
I'm not sure it's really a matter of how good your memory is.
dwh...@gmail.com
> dwh...@gmail.com wrote:
> << Anyway, the whole point of this topic [...] is whether it's
> possible to turn verbose permanently on when playing a game?
> I'm guessing from the lack of positive replies that it isn't.
> Pity. >>
>
> changing modes, then, I would guess that a game designer could
> arrange for that too, depending on the game system, but I don't
> think it would be very considerate.
>
I wasn't asking that at all. What I was after was something that the
*player* could do to automatically make every game start in verbose
mode without the need to do it manually each time a new game was played.